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The protests over Cauvery waters in Karnataka, particularly in capital Bengaluru, have made headlines the country over. But lost in the din has been a string of demonstrations of a much smaller scale in the city: over tree-felling for widening roads under the controversial TenderSURE project. Both, however, have shown the disconnect the city’s corporate elite have with popular sentiments and ground realities. Having been caught on the wrong foot over both protests, the elite is now making...

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday owned responsibility for the Congress defeat in the elections to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Pailke (BBMP). But only had he been a bit more graceful, for in the same breath he asserted that it was not a referendum either on himself or his party. Siddaramaiah perhaps suffers from the Ostrich Syndrome, or is too arrogant to accept reality. The Chief Minister has been parroting this referendum line for a while, and only because he saw the writing...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech marking the first National Handloom Day has triggered some debate about the handloom sector. But unfortunately, as is wont nowadays, arguments for handlooms fluctuate between the revivalist (let's work towards an Indian pride) and the sympathetic (let's save the weavers). Unfortunately again, both indulge in rhetoric and bombast, cut off from grassroots realities. Modi was right in asserting that reviving the handloom sector can be a way to fight poverty...